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We reporters used to hang out at Kwan Lok, incongruously located in a bungalow where Transfer Road meets Burmah Road. It was our second home. There we would sit, and swap yarns and drink endless rounds of coffee. Loh Boon Siew was one of the regulars. Even after he had become rich beyond all dreams and a Tan Sri he would drop in now and then and gossip. He never got swollen headed 

The bungalow, built in 1930 stood at a historic junction. A stone's throw away was Tiaw keo k'ar ( Below the Suspension Bridge) where tongkangs and sampans would discharge their cargo at the end of their slow haul up the Prangin River. The Loke Thye Kee restaurant was Kwan Lok's  the only close neighbour. On the grounds opposite Loh Boon Siew toiled as a lorry repairer at Hwa Motors. 

For more than 40 years Kwan Lok was a rival to equally famous Wing Look,  close by the Majestic Cinema, just round the corner. Wing Look attracted generations of school children with its home made ice cream and cakes; in the evenings it served European food of good Hainanese quality but at Kwan Lok satay and bar moey were preferred

One of the partners of Choon Lok was Su Hsiu Shih. He was a teacher by day and managed the café in the evenings. His two sons are well known in the medical field, a second generation deviation which in a way contributed to the decline of the business. And so it came about that in 1973 Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew bought the building for $250,000. The story goes that he had been advised by a feng shui man that while he had the dragon head at Northam Road (he lived in Northam Road) he had to have the dragon tail, which pin pointed the half acre of land on which Choon Lok stood. As the saying goes "If there is a head, there must be a tail" 
 

[Lee Liang Shu writes a regular column for the Kwang Hwa Daily]